Monday, December 31, 2007

I wrote this article about my Mother two years ago for my Linda's Blog and thought it was very appropriate to include on my "Gray Is Beautiful" blog.

My Mom has gray hair and she is beautiful. In fact, she was the inspiration for my "Gray is Beautiful" series as no matter what her age or color of her hair she has always been "GORGEOUS."

Here's the post:

Everyone in our family and everyone who knows me knows that I poke fun of my mother all the time. How can I resist the urge? I can't. She's a classic beauty.

Plus, I'm her eldest daughter, the one she is toughest on. And, unfortunately, I'm just like her (yikes! heaven help me! - see what I mean), minus the classic beauty part.

Anyway, I can't help it because my mother is just so easy to kid around with and is so good natured about it. She puts up with a lot of grief, kidding, and loving aggravation from her five adult (and I use this word loosely) children all the time.

She even has to put up with it from her sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and even her grandchildren. We tell her, after all, you created us! We didn't ask to be born. She just smiles and says "Yes, Dears!"

A little while ago I was shopping with my mother and found a pillow that was embroidered with these words: "Mirror, mirror on the wall - I am my Mother after all!" When my mother and I saw this we both burst out laughing. Much to my horror, it was true.

My mother was born in 1930 and grew up during the depression. She lived with her brother, parents, grandfather, and great Aunt in what was common at the times, one great big extended family all under one roof. At times there were other people living with them as well.

She watched her brother go off to war in WWII, went to college, was a beauty queen, and married a WWII war veteran, my Dad. If any of you have seen the movie "Mona Lisa Smile" then you know what I mean when I say she was a "dutiful housewife."

However, she raised her two daughters to be proud of who we were, to think for ourselves, to always treat others like we wished to be treated, and to give everything our best shot. For my mother there was never anything we couldn't do. She was the Julia Roberts character in "Mona Lisa Smile" before Julia was.

So, what is the point of this story? My point is this. My mother is a classic beauty at any age. Beautiful inside and beautiful outside.

What better example do I have for my "Gray is Beautiful!"doll pattern series than my mother.

She has aged beautifully and has never done anything artificial to herself. There is nothing fake or phony about her.

She is proud of who she is, proud of how she looks, proud of her age, and proud of her life. And, it shows.

She is the epitome of DROP DEAD GORGEOUS!

So, Mom, I give you a lot of grief, you know that. However, you are and always have been my BEST FRIEND.

You are and always will be my BIGGESTLinda Walsh Originals fan, my own personal cheering section.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

If you are a reader of my Linda's Blog than you know that I think there is nothing wrong with gray hair and aging. It's a natural and beautiful process.

A little while ago I wrote an article called "Why A "Gray Is Beautiful" Blog?" for my Linda's Blog on graying and aging and why our society is so focused on youth and being thin as a rail.

I wondered why was aging so terrifying to everyone? It shouldn't be. We all do it.

So, I decided to honor all the gray, aging, baby-boomers out there, like myself with a series of doll patterns for dolls that are "DOWN-RIGHT PROUD TO BE GRAY!"

After all, why shouldn't the dolls we grown-up girls still love look like us?

We should be PROUD of our age, PROUD of the way we look, PROUD to be GRAY. Shouldn't we?

In my opinion, yes, we should. My hair is streaked with gray and I'm proud of it. I have no intention of ever dying my gray hair as I feel like age is something to wear with pride.

There is nothing more beautiful, in my opinion, than a woman with a tremendous amount of character,wisdom, and age visibly showing on her face. That's just me. You might disagree and, if you do, that's fine as well.

So, my "Gray is Beautiful Series" was created to honor all of us - the beautiful, graying women. The GRAYS are here and they are DROP DEAD GORGEOUS.

After all, they have to take after their owners. Don't they?

"Mabel - I Might" has wild, dark gray hair and always reminds me of "Rosie - The Riveter" from the WWII commercials. You know, the one on all the posters wearing a bandanna and forging steel.

Mabel is all ready in her denim overalls for her job at the steel factory. But, she thinks that just because she forges steel doesn't mean she can't wear fancy bloomers.

So what if they show below her overalls? You got a problem with that?

If you do, take my advice, and don't tell Mabel.

Why? Because there isn't anything Mabel can't do once she puts her mind to it.

In fact, she proudly boasts that anything a man can do she can do better. Well, there a few things Mabel might not be able to do because of sheer physical strength limitations but I'm not about to tell her that.

Are you kidding? She can bench press 350 pounds. She might just decide to knock my head off just to prove her point.

That's, okay, Mabel. We believe you.

Magdalene is very much the Drama Queen and is always in need of her smelling salts. She'll faint at the drop of a hat.

Of course, it's all part of her act. She craves attention and wants everyone to constantly attend to her every need. In order to get everyone to pay attention she sighs, huffs, groans, and moans and will even faint for a second or two.

I don't know why but every time I look at her I think of King George. Maybe its her full head of very, very thick white curly hair with a speckle of gray and black intertwined.

Maybe it's because her hair reminds me of the wigs the British barrister's wear in court. Or, maybe, it's her outfit.

Magdalene has a mass of thick, white curly hair on her head with a bow in back. She has a cloth body with an embroidered face and is wearing the latest in fashion - a flounce dress with matching and visible bloomers.

Her dress is so big she requires assistance to get up from her chair. Of course, that doesn't bother Magdalene on bit. Her goal in life is to be waited on at all times."

Sweet Julianna is a sweet and shy young primitive woman. She doesn't want to intrude. She just wants to help where ever she can.

Sweet Julianna is just the sweetest little thing. You can't help but love her. And, she has a head of the most gorgeous dark gray curly hair that you'd ever want to see. It is so thick that it is the envy of all her graying friends.

Her goal in life is to serve others and do a little crafting."

Susan is a big, big, big snob. Can't you tell that already?

She wants to be called "Susan Renee" and not just "Susan."

Well, whoop-de-do, I say!"

Susan, Oh, excuse me.... Susan Renee is extremely demanding, articulate, knowledgeable, well-read, wealthy and aggressive. She has a mind for business and knows where every penny of her fortune is.

And, if you want to inherit some of that then you have to earn it. Don't try to contradict her or disagree with her for "Susan Renee" is always right.

She wears her beautiful head of gray hair proudly. She has earned every gray hair on her head and is proud of it.

Susan Renee knows what she wants and, always, gets it. Her goal in life is to sit on the board of the top 5 Fortune 500 companies.

Helena is proud of her beautiful grayish white hair. She's a tough old bird and can definitely handle anything that is thrown at her.

The reason for that is that there is nothing in life that Helena hasn't seen or done. Everything she's learned to do she has taught herself.

She's street smart, wise, prudent, loyal, feisty, and delicate, too. After all she is a female. She may be tough but she still likes frilly, feminine things like lace trimmed dresses and lace shawls.

Helena kind of reminds me of the two old biddies from the movie "Gone With The Wind." You might see her walking down the street conversing with everyone and definitely letting them know her opinion on different subjects.

Of course, she's also the one you turn to when you need advice for you can always count on her. If Helena says she'll do something then she will.

So now you've met all five of our PROUD grays. I hope you enjoyed them and that you're convinced that "Gray Is Beautiful!"

You might be wondering why I need yet another blog and why "Gray Is Beautiful?"

The answer to the first question is easy. For "The Blogging Queen" - WHY NOT!

The second question can be explained first by explaining why I created a "Gray Is Beautiful" series of dolls and doll patterns. In responding to a post in one of my favorite forums regarding hair I got to thinking about hair and aging.

Why is our society so focused on youth and being thin as a rail?

Why is aging so terrifying to everyone?

I don't know. We all age.

When I was young (and that was a long time ago - hey, be nice now) I was thin as a rail. In fact, I was so thin one of my friends used to tell me that if I turned sideways you wouldn't be able to see me or I'd blow over.

My mother was always fretting over how thin I was. I don't know why. She was as thin as a rail when she was younger (and that WAS a long, long time ago.)

However, she used to love to tell me that "Don't worry darling, it will catch up with you." I'd reply " No way!" She'd just laugh. I'm sure she was thinking (okay miss know-it-all).

Well, that was then, and now is now. Unfortunately, my mother was right. Boy do I hate admitting that!

So, the sad reality is that as you age Mother Nature has her own private way of saying "I gotcha!" Is it any surprise that she is named "MOTHER" nature?

In any event, here I am aging and gray. Anyways, I got to thinking, shouldn't we honor those of us from the baby boom generation (of which I am a member) who are aging so beautifully. After all, we have our own magazine "More" (which I love). Why shouldn't the dolls we grown-up girls still love look like us?

We should be PROUD of our age, PROUD of the way we look, PROUD to be GRAY. Shouldn't we?

Yes , we should.

So, I decided that I should design a new series of dolls called my "Gray is Beautiful Series" to honor all of us beautiful women. For all of us old, graying, baby boomer generation women I say "Gray is beautiful, too! Isn't it?"

Be careful now, everyone gets older. If you're not nice there will be a stampede of aging, graying, not rail thin, seniors on your doorstep tomorrow. The GRAYS are here to stay and we all are all DROP DEAD GORGEOUS.

You're probably saying, "Okay, we can understand the doll series, but why a blog?" Well, the "GRAYS" deserve their own platform and, better yet, demanded it. There is no way I'm going to say no to my "GRAYS!" If I tried they'd knock my head off and that would not be a pretty scene.

So, all you graying, baby boomer, senior out there get ready for the "Gray Is Beautiful" blog created by, written by, and directed by my "GRAYS!"

Welcome to our "Gray is Beautiful" Blog. We hope you enjoy your visit.

Aging is beautiful and gray hair is not only beautiful, but something to be proud of. After all you've earned all those gray or white hairs. Stand up and say, "I'm gray and proud of it!" Better yet, "I'm a senior citizen and PROUD of it!" This blog is in honor of all the aging, graying, baby boomer, senior citizens, Grandmothers, Nana's, Grandma's and Grannies out there. If you're young and gray-haired or white-haired this blog is for you, too.

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Please Visit The Gray Is Beautiful Products Gallery for Some Terrific Products

The "Gray Is Beautiful" gallery is brought to you by the Linda Walsh Originals "Gray Is Beautiful" series of gray and white-haired dolls.

We have Celia, Blue Bell Sara, Rebecca, Grandma Aurora May On An Expedition, Grandpa Lewis On An Expedition, Sweetheart Faith, Petronella The Birdhouse Lady, Doug The Handy Dandy Gentleman, Laura The Quintessential Bunny Lady, Devin A Bunny Gentleman, Helena, Sweet Julianna, Mabel - I Might, Magdalene - The Drama Queen, and Susan Renee - My Beautiful Gray. Each and every one of them is "PROUD OF THEIR AGE!" and "PROUD TO BE GRAY!"

At the "Gray Is Beautiful" gallery we are proud of our age & our gray hair and proud to say so. After all, we have earned each and every strand. We say "Be PROUD" of your gray. Whether you are a senior citizen, baby boomer, female, or just have gray or white hair our "Gray Is Beautiful" products are for you.

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